Commitee calls on city to act on parks master plan

The Opelousas Parks and Recreation Master Plan Committee will host a meeting Monday evening and everyone, including candidates for mayor and alderman positions in this fall’s election, is invited.

“We would like to hear from the candidates about their positions on healthy recreation for our community,” said Yvonne L. Normand, head of the committee.

The meeting will be held at 5:15 p.m. in the South Park Teen Center, 1524 S. Market St.

Normand said the committee would also like to hear about plans from the current administration, especially concerning $62,000 that was used to resurface basketball courts in North City Park earlier this year.

The city received a $495,000 grant a number of years ago, supposedly to begin construction on a public youth sports park on a 93-arce site on Cherry Street on the west side of the city.

Although a ceremonial groundbreaking on that proposed park happened in 2011, Normand said the committee has yet to see much progress.

“They have moved some dirt but not much from what I see,” Normand said.

The city received permission last year to use the original grant money for other parks-related projects, but Normand said those projects were supposed to further the city’s master parks plan.

About eight years ago, the city invested in a massive, detailed plan to upgrade the existing North and South City Parks and plan for the proposed sports park.

The idea at the time was that the plan would allow the city to upgrade the parks in an orderly manner.

It was always clear that the city could not afford to take on the more than $20 million plan in one big bite. Instead, it planned to roll out each little piece of the plan as money became available.

Of that original grant, the city spent about $200,000 to upgrade the tennis courts in South City Park and the basketball courts in North City Park this year.

Normand said the committee has no problem with upgrading the tennis courts. That was part of the master plan.

“We want the $62,000 for the basketball courts put back in our budget. Those courts were not part of the master plan,” Normand said.

She said the master plan instead called for the construction of a large pavilion in North City Park to provide year-around, all-weather basketball courts.

“The kids could play there anytime and the facility could be used for concerts and family gatherings,” Normand said.

She said the committee has not been active recently because it was waiting on the city to act, but that is changing.

“We have waited long enough. It is time for action,” Normand said. “The city needs to start using the master plan.”